Grimmel the Grisly
Grimmel the Grisly is the overarching antagonist of the How to Train Your Dragon animated franchise. He serves as the main antagonist of DreamWorks' 36th full-length animated feature film How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, the final movie of the trilogy. He is a ruthless dragon hunter who won the reputation of driving the Night Fury race of dragons to near extinction and has his eyes set on Toothless, the last Night Fury in existence, and will stop at nothing to hunt the dragon down, putting him in conflict with Hiccup along the way. He is the cruelest villain Hiccup and the rest of the Dragon Riders have ever faced, although not the most powerful and dangerous (Drago Bludvist). He was voiced by , who also played Antonio Salieri in the 1984 film adaptation of Amadeus, Bernardo Gui in The Name of the Rose, and Cyrus Kriticos in Thirteen Ghosts. Biography Early Life/Night Fury Genocide When Grimmel was just a boy, he found a Night Fury in a vulnerable state while it was sleeping, but chose to kill it in its sleep instead of training it. As such, the simple act of courage he did make his village considered and treated him as a hero. Motivated by this, Grimmel dedicated the rest of his life to killing dragons, especially Night Furies. He eventually succeeded in hunting down all of the Night Furies, except for one Night Fury — Toothless, who possibly survived the Night Fury Genocide because Toothless was with Hiccup and was sheltered as a result, yet Grimmel was unaware of it. ''How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World'' Hired by the Warlords One year after the demise of Drago Bludvist, his three followers, Grimmel is hired by the Warlords to capture Toothless, the sole Night Fury that he has not hunted down, because of their problem with dragon poaching; their intentions were to conquer the world by using dragons they are trying to hunt now that they have assumed the leadership of Drago's Army. Grimmel accepts the offer, but hides from them secrets about what he plans to do with Toothless. He plans on using a female Light Fury as bait for Toothless, and frees her at Berk, but leaves a poison dart nearby and hides a trap. Meeting Hiccup Grimmel walks down the stairs and approaches Hiccup whilst the latter is studying his father's notes, and pours himself a glass of tea. He explains to Hiccup how he nearly hunted down all of the Night Furies, and shoots Toothless sleeping under a blanket, not realizing that it was actually Fishlegs who was sleeping under the blanket instead. Hiccup detests Grimmel by proclaiming that he will never give up Toothless. Then, the Dragon Riders come out of hiding and enter the room, revealing Toothless wasn't shot, but Fishlegs. With that, Grimmel orders his Deathgrippers to attack the Dragon Riders and all of Berk. The Deathgrippers use their acid to burn down Hiccup's house, as well as most of Berk and Grimmel disappears with an ultimatum: if Toothless is not surrendered the next day, then he will destroy everything Hiccup loves. In response, Hiccup leads the Berkians away from Berk on a journey to find the Hidden World. However, unbeknownst to them, they do exactly as Grimmel had planned. Later after this happens, by the Great Hall, Grimmel reveals to the Warlords exactly where the Berkians are headed. Capturing Toothless and betraying the Warlords Hiccup and Astrid return with Toothless from the Hidden World back to New Berk and find out the Light Fury followed them. It's at this moment when Grimmel decides to strike and capture both Toothless and the Light Fury. However, all of the dragons from the island appear with intentions to save Toothless. Grimmel foresees this, and orders Toothless to call off the dragons as he points his crossbow at the Light Fury. Grimmel succeeds in his mission and leads all of the dragons to the Warlords, but alters their deal, deciding to keep both Toothless and the Light Fury for himself to dispose of them. Final Showdown and Death Hiccup and the rest of the Dragon Riders, wearing their flight-suits, fly toward the armada to start a battle against Grimmel, much to the latter's surprise. During said battle, Grimmel's platform is quickly destroyed. Because of this, he makes an escape attempt by putting one of his collars on the Light Fury. The collar injects her with his Deathgrippers' venom, allowing him to gain control over the dragon. Hiccup is able to free Toothless, and starts to chase Grimmel down. However, Grimmel was prepared for this, and shoots one of his darts at Hiccup. The latter jumps off Toothless, thus evading the dart, but this causes the dart to hit Toothless instead, prompting him to plummet toward the ocean. Hiccup drubs Grimmel by kicking him off the Light Fury, and removing Grimmel's collar after seeing Toothless fall. However, Grimmel grabs Hiccup's prosthetic leg, attempting to take him down with him to cause his death as well. Hiccup tells the Light Fury to save Toothless and lets go of her, causing him to almost fall to his demise while Grimmel rips off Hiccup's "wings" to further ensure his death. However, the Light Fury comes back for Hiccup after saving Toothless. Hiccup removes his prosthetic leg to separate himself from Grimmel, thus allowing the Light Fury to carry him to safety while Grimmel falls from the impact of the ocean below. The impact eventually crushes every bone in his body, killing him automatically or causes him to drown slowly. Thus, his days of dragon hunting are now permanently over. With Grimmel gone forever, this would be the final time the dragon hunters would come to capture and harm the dragons, who were finally forever safe and currently hiding in the Hidden World until they can eventually coexist peacefully with humans who care for them. Until then, only the Berkians will guard their secret. Appearance Grimmel is a tall, slender man with receded but frizzled gray hair, pale skin, and light blue eyes. He wears a dark brown robe with a hooded jacket and leather armor, brown pants, and grayish-brown boots. Personality Grimmel has been referred to as the darkest adversary to all of the Dragon Riders, including the draconic creatures themselves. He is a seasoned, experienced dragon hunter with a very encyclopedic knowledge of dragon behavior, and possesses a deep hatred for dragonkind, believing humans and dragons cannot and should not coexist peacefully together. Despite his hatred of dragons, Grimmel convinced himself that he is a savior who brings peace to the people of the world, believing dragons are nothing more than savage monsters. However, this is nothing more than a mere delusion, as he razed an entire section of the village of Berk and tried to drag Hiccup down with him to his death. Despite his xenophobic and ruthless nature, Grimmel was also a grounded, pragmatic, and contentious strategist, able to quickly assess a foe and get into their head, playing them into his traps. He is a Chessmaster possessing a suave, charismatic, talkative, gentlemanly and friendly nature despite his cold determination. He is also possibly the smartest villain in the series (surpassing even the combination of Alvin the Treacherous, Johann and Viggo Grimborn's intelligence). However, his greatest weakness is his willingness to debunk Hiccup and Toothless's friendship as an illusion, a trait that ultimately led to his downfall. In spite of his sadism, delusions, and wicked nature, Grimmel seems to possess one tiny bit of nobility, as according to his dialogue between Hiccup in their first encounter, it can be implied that Grimmel once had at the very least respect for Stoick the Vast, Hiccup's late father, because both of them apparently agreed with their views on the danger that represented the dragons, though Grimmel was oblivious that Stoick later changed his opinion. However, in reality, Grimmel has loyalty to no one. When he is called out by Hiccup for sitting in Stoick's chair, instead of showing any signs of remorse, he simply smirks at Hiccup. Also, although he made a deal with the Warlords to bring them all the Berkians' dragons, he altered it and refused to give them Toothless and the Light Fury so he could dispose of them himself, therefore being dishonorable and was never noble in the first place. Due to his true dishonorable nature, he possesses an irredeemable nature of being a villain. Abilities *'Dragon Hunting': Grimmel is known as the smartest dragon hunter in the world. His skill in dragon hunting is unmatched. The most infamous example of his hunting skills is the fact that he hunted the Night Furies, a dragon species that is said to be the smartest, fastest, and most powerful species of dragon, to the brink of extinction. *'Dragon Manipulation': Grimmel was capable of manipulating dragons under the command of Drago's Army. *'Dragon Riding': Grimmel was capable of riding dragons, which was shown when he rode the Light Fury after drugging her with the Deathgripper venom. Quotes }} Trivia *It is possible that Grimmel had dealings with Drago Bludvist, the main antagonist of the franchise and of the second film, as Drago wore a Night Fury skin cape to cover his mechanical arm and Grimmel hunted the Night Furies to near-extinction. *In many ways, Grimmel is considered an evil version of Hiccup, of which is an example of what Hiccup would have become if he had killed Toothless the first time they meet. *Grimmel is the foremost antagonist in the How to Train Your Dragon series, along with Drago Bludvist, as he hunted the Night Furies to near-extinction, which is one of the two reasons why there was no information of it in the Book of Dragons and the fact that he was never seen in the first film, as well as the fact that it was a plot point in some of the episodes. However, he is proven to be arguably even more dangerous than Drago, who was just being driven by revenge to hunt and enslave dragons rather than being driven for sadism and pleasure to kill them without reason, making Grimmel not only the final antagonist of the series but the Greater-Scope Villain of the franchise. *Grimmel and Drago can be considered counterparts to each other, as they have many similarities yet many contrasts as well: **Both knew Stoick in their pasts but betrayed him. **Both share a sense of cruelty towards dragons and want to subjugate them, though Drago is motivated by vengeance and brutality while Grimmel enjoys hunting dragons for sport. **Both abuse a certain species of dragon to use their abilities to brainwash an army of dragons against their will: Drago raised the Muddy Bewilderbeast to be his slave and used it to control all of the Berkians' dragons, while Grimmel brainwashed his army of Deathgrippers using their own venom. **Both also personally abused an elusive white-colored dragon to the point of trauma to act as a tool in order to complete their plans, with Drago abusing his Bewilderbeast and Grimmel using the Light Fury as bait. **Hiccup had different actions between the two in order to avoid conflict, but it inadvertently led to the villains gaining an advantage: he tried to reason peacefully with Drago and evacuate Berk to flee from Grimmel. **Their plans led to Berk having a huge, irreplacable sacrifice; Drago caused Stoick's death, robbing Berk of its chief, and Grimmel forced the Berkians to leave their old home and (posthumously) made them release their dragons to save them from future hunters. **Both met their end by falling into the ocean and drowning: Drago was helpless and powerless when he fell, while Grimmel attempted to take Hiccup with him by attempting to kill him. *Although driven for his desire of killing dragons as previously mentioned, considering that he apparently had no specific reasons regarding his motives, it has been debated whether Grimmel just wanted to exterminate dragonkind for pure sadism and delusions, or if he was just trying to eliminate all dragons to ensure the safety of humankind, just as Stoick the Vast, Hiccup's father, wanted in the first film. However, Grimmel razed a section of Berk and tried to kill Hiccup in his final moments, which points to the former. *Grimmel the Grisly is considered one of the seven most evil DreamWorks Animation villains, along with Drago Bludvist, D-Stroy, Commander Sendak, General Mandible, Morgana and General Morando. *Otto Torx, the main antagonist of season 4 from the 3-D cartoon Rabbids Invasion served as inspiration for his appearance. 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